Chapter 5.—Of Those Things Which
a Man of God Spake by the Spirit to Eli the Priest, Signifying that
the Priesthood Which Had Been Appointed According to Aaron Was to
Be Taken Away.

But this is said more plainly by a
man of God sent to Eli the priest himself, whose name indeed is not
mentioned, but whose office and ministry show him to have been
indubitably a prophet. For it is thus written: “And there
came a man of God unto Eli, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I
plainly revealed myself unto thy father’s house, when they were
in the land of Egypt slaves in Pharaoh’s house; and I chose thy
father’s house out of all the sceptres of Israel to fill the
office of priest for me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense and
wear the ephod; and I gave thy father’s house for food all the
offerings made by fire of the children of Israel. Wherefore then
hast thou looked at mine incense and at mine offerings with an
impudent eye, and hast glorified thy sons above me, to bless the
first-fruits of every sacrifice in Israel before me? Therefore
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I said thy house and thy
father’s house should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord
saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me will I honor, and
he that despiseth me shall be despised. Behold, the days come,
that I will cut off thy seed, and the seed of thy father’s house,
and thou shalt never have an old man in my house. And I will cut
off the man of thine from mine altar, so that his eyes shall be
consumed, and his heart shall melt away; and every one of thy house
that is left shall fall by the sword of men. And this shall be a
sign unto thee that shall come upon these thy two sons, Hophni and
Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. And I will
raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to all that
is in mine heart and in my soul; and I will build him a sure house,
and he shall walk before my Christ for ever. And it shall come to
pass that he who is left in thine house shall come to worship him
with a piece of money, saying, Put me into one part of thy
priesthood, that I may eat bread.”101410141 Sam. ii. 27–36.

We cannot say that this prophecy,
in which the change of the ancient priesthood is foretold with so
great plainness, was fulfilled in Samuel; for although Samuel was
not of another tribe than that which had been appointed by God to
serve at the altar, yet he was not of the sons of Aaron, whose
offspring
344
was set apart that the priests might be taken out of
it. And thus by that transaction also the same change which
should come to pass through Christ Jesus is shadowed forth, and the
prophecy itself in deed, not in word, belonged to the Old Testament
properly, but figuratively to the New, signifying by the fact just
what was said by the word to Eli the priest through the prophet.
For there were afterwards priests of Aaron’s race, such as Zadok
and Abiathar during David’s reign, and others in succession,
before the time came when those things which were predicted so long
before about the changing of the priesthood behoved to be fulfilled
by Christ. But who that now views these things with a believing
eye does not see that they are fulfilled? Since, indeed, no
tabernacle, no temple, no altar, no sacrifice, and therefore no
priest either, has remained to the Jews, to whom it was commanded
in the law of God that he should be ordained of the seed of Aaron;
which is also mentioned here by the prophet, when he says, “Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, I said thy house and thy father’s
house shall walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, That
be far from me; for them that honor me will I honor, and he that
despiseth me shall be despised.” For that in naming his
father’s house he does not mean that of his immediate father, but
that of Aaron, who first was appointed priest, to be succeeded by
others descended from him, is shown by the preceding words, when he
says, “I was revealed unto thy father’s house, when they were
in the land of Egypt slaves in Pharaoh’s house; and I chose thy
father’s house out of all the sceptres of Israel to fill the
office of priest for me.” Which of the fathers in that Egyptian
slavery, but Aaron, was his father, who, when they were set free,
was chosen to the priesthood? It was of his lineage, therefore,
he has said in this passage it should come to pass that they should
no longer be priests; which already we see fulfilled. If faith be
watchful, the things are before us: they are discerned, they are
grasped, and are forced on the eyes of the unwilling, so that they
are seen: “Behold the days come,” he says, “that I will cut
off thy seed, and the seed of thy father’s house, and thou shall
never have an old man in mine house. And I will cut off the man
of thine from mine altar, so that his eyes shall be consumed and
his heart shall melt away.” Behold the days which were foretold
have already come. There is no priest after the order of Aaron;
and whoever is a man of his lineage, when he sees the sacrifice of
the Christians prevailing over the whole world, but that great
honor taken away from himself, his eyes fail and his soul melts
away consumed with grief.

But what follows belongs properly
to the house of Eli, to whom these things were said: “And every
one of thine house that is left shall fall by the sword of men.
And this shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon these thy
two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of
them.” This, therefore, is made a sign of the change of the
priesthood from this man’s house, by which it is signified that
the priesthood of Aaron’s house is to be changed. For the death
of this man’s sons signified the death not of the men, but of the
priesthood itself of the sons of Aaron. But what follows pertains
to that Priest whom Samuel typified by succeeding this one.
Therefore the things which follow are said of Christ Jesus, the
true Priest of the New Testament: “And I will raise me up a
faithful Priest that shall do according to all that is in mine
heart and in my soul; and I will build Him a sure house.” The
same is the eternal Jerusalem above. “And He shall walk,”
saith He, “before my Christ always.” “He shall walk”
means “he shall be conversant with,” just as He had said before
of Aaron’s house, “I said that thine house and thy father’s
house shall walk before me for ever.” But what He says, “He
shall walk before my Christ,” is to be understood entirely of the
house itself, not of the priest, who is Christ Himself, the
Mediator and Saviour. His house, therefore, shall walk before
Him. “Shall walk” may also be understood to mean from death
to life, all the time this mortality passes through, even to the
end of this world. But where God says, “Who will do all that is
in mine heart and in my soul,” we must not think that God has a
soul, for He is the Author of souls; but this is said of God
tropically, not properly, just as He is said to have hands and
feet, and other corporal members. And, lest it should be supposed
from such language that man in the form of this flesh is made in
the image of God, wings also are ascribed to Him, which man has not
at all; and it is said to God, “Hide me under the shadow of Thy
wings,”10151015Ps. xvii. 8. that men
may understand that such things are said of that ineffable nature
not in proper but in figurative words.

But what is added, “And it shall
come to pass that he who is left in thine house shall come to
worship him,” is not said properly of the house of this Eli, but
of that Aaron, the men of which remained even to the advent
of
345
Jesus Christ, of which race there are not wanting men
even to this present. For of that house of Eli it had already
been said above, “And every one of thine house that is left shall
fall by the sword of men.” How, therefore, could it be truly
said here, “And it shall come to pass that every one that is left
shall come to worship him,” if that is true, that no one shall
escape the avenging sword, unless he would have it understood of
those who belong to the race of that whole priesthood after the
order of Aaron? Therefore, if it is of these the predestinated
remnant, about whom another prophet has said, “The remnant shall
be saved;”10161016Isa. x. 21. whence the
apostle also says, “Even so then at this time also the remnant
according to the election of grace is saved;”10171017Rom. xi. 5. since it is easily understood to
be of such a remnant that it is said, “He that is left in thine
house,” assuredly he believes in Christ; just as in the time of
the apostle very many of that nation believed; nor are there now
wanting those, although very few, who yet believe, and in them is
fulfilled what this man of God has here immediately added, “He
shall come to worship him with a piece of money;” to worship
whom, if not that Chief Priest, who is also God? For in that
priesthood after the order of Aaron men did not come to the temple
or altar of God for the purpose of worshipping the priest. But
what is that he says, “With a piece of money,” if not the short
word of faith, about which the apostle quotes the saying, “A
consummating and shortening word will the Lord make upon the
earth?”10181018Isa. xxxviii. 22; Rom.
ix. 28. But that
money is put for the word the psalm is a witness, where it is sung,
“The words of the Lord are pure words, money tried with the
fire.”10191019Ps. xii. 6.

What then does he say who comes to
worship the priest of God, even the Priest who is God? “Put me
into one part of Thy priesthood, to eat bread.” I do not wish
to be set in the honor of my fathers, which is none; put me in a
part of Thy priesthood. For “I have chosen to be mean in Thine
house;”10201020Ps. lxxxiv. 10. I desire
to be a member, no matter what, or how small, of Thy priesthood.
By the priesthood he here means the people itself, of which He is
the Priest who is the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus.102110211 Tim. ii. 5. This
people the Apostle Peter calls “a holy people, a royal
priesthood.”102210221 Pet. ii. 9. But some
have translated, “Of Thy sacrifice,” not “Of Thy
priesthood,” which no less signifies the same Christian people.
Whence the Apostle Paul says, “We being many are one bread, one
body.”102310231 Cor. x. 17. [And again
he says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.”10241024Rom. xii. 1.] What,
therefore, he has added, to “eat bread,” also elegantly
expresses the very kind of sacrifice of which the Priest Himself
says, “The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of
the world.”10251025John vi. 51. The same
is the sacrifice not after the order of Aaron, but after the order
of Melchisedec:10261026Heb. vii. 11, 27. let him
that readeth understand.10271027Matt. xxiv. 15. Therefore this short and
salutarily humble confession, in which it is said, “Put me in a
part of Thy priesthood, to eat bread,” is itself the piece of
money, for it is both brief, and it is the Word of God who dwells
in the heart of one who believes. For because He had said above,
that He had given for food to Aaron’s house the sacrificial
victims of the Old Testament, where He says, “I have given thy
father’s house for food all things which are offered by fire of
the children of Israel,” which indeed were the sacrifices of the
Jews; therefore here He has said, “To eat bread,” which is in
the New Testament the sacrifice of the Christians.